I love going out to eat. East Texas restaurants are really expanding. Over the past year I have had Vietnamese, Greek, Korean, Japanese, Italian, Chinese, and Mexican food. I would much rather have a good meal than going to a movie. At one of my recent excursions, I noticed a patron send her food back with the complaint she didn’t like it. She wasn’t very pleasant about it either.

I don’t understand how people can feel comfortable telling a waitress they did not like the food. Even if something is wrong with my order, I usually just take it the way it is. I rarely send food back. The last time I sent food back was when my chicken was raw in the middle. I simply told the waitress I just didn’t want anything else. I spent the rest of that hour watching my husband enjoy his food.

When I was in college, I often worked as a waitress part time here and there for extra money. I never sabotaged anyone’s food. I was never even tempted. However, that doesn’t mean I didn’t see other waitresses or even cooks do it. Once I landed a gig at this well known Mexican restaurant in El Paso. I was very excited because I knew I would make very good tips. The first couple of days they had me shadow the head waitress. She had been there for 10 years. On the second day I cleared a table and took the used salsa and threw it away. The head waitress started yelling at me. She quickly informed me that the policy was if it was half full we dumped the salsa back into the new salsa and stirred in. I was so grossed out. That was my last day.

I worked a burger and wing joint and had a similar experience. I dropped a burger on the floor by accident and when I asked the cook to refire me another burger he said no. He took the dropped burger and reused the meat and just put a new bun on it. I refused to serve it. I faced two options, either pay for the burger I dropped or serve the old burger with the new bun. That was my last day working there.

Now, I make sure I always treat my wait staff with respect and I always tip well. I never send things back and request something different. I know people, some of them family members, who will eat three or four bites of their food and decided they don’t like it for whatever reason and send it back. I know I am paranoid but I am always worried the new plate they send me could be tampered with. My niece sends back her steak almost each and every time because it is never cooked the way she wants it. I think she doesn’t know how to order a steak.

I don’t want local cooks and waitresses to be upset with me. I know that most waitress and cooks take a lot of pride in their job and would never tamper with food. I also think East Texas restaurant's service is way above par than other parts of the country.

I think I have been scarred because of my short stints as a waitress. It also doesn’t help that I love watching reality televisions shows about restaurants. I know they make thing seem worse than they really are. On a recent show the waitress took the customer’s bread and rubbed it down her shirt and under her armpits. I was sick to my stomach. I will admit, the customer was being very rude. I don’t have a tendency to be rude but if I ever get the urge to do so, the image of bread being under my waiter’s armpits should do the trick.

Next time you are eating out, you might want to think about that also. Remember, the number one rule when eating out is to be sure to be nice to the wait staff.